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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: blacken700 on August 23, 2011, 09:10:16 AM
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/leonardburman/2011/08/18/rick-perry-middle-income-americans-dont-pay-enough-income-taxes/
I’ve been blissfully off the grid for the past few days, cycling in Western New York. (Allegany State Park is absolutely gorgeous. Made me be glad to be paying taxes in New York State.) I could forget about the debt ceiling fiasco, 9 percent unemployment, the tea party, runaway health spending, global warming, the NBA lockout…
But back in the real world, I learn from newly minted GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry what’s wrong with America—that middle income Americans don’t pay enough taxes. Really.
“We’re dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don’t even pay any income tax. (Quoted in this terrific Ruth Marcus column.)
We’re apparently not dismayed that more than half of all Americans have been in a 30-year recession with little or no income growth. We’re apparently willing to write off Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, which are the big federal taxes for low- and middle-income Americans. A family of four earning $30,000 may pay no federal income tax, but it pays $4,590 in payroll taxes (including the employer’s share, which economists believe is ultimately paid by the employee in the form of lower wages). Payroll taxes are much bigger than income taxes for most families.
Among working households, 82 percent pay more payroll tax than income tax. They also pay federal excise taxes on gasoline, beer, wine, liquor, tires, and cigarettes. And state and local taxes are notoriously regressive. Feel better, governor?
It’s true that middle income people don’t pay the estate tax. Nor do most rich people. Are we dismayed about that?
Here’s another shocker for the governor: the recession surely caused many households to join the ranks of “lucky duckies.” (This is the Wall Street Journal’s term for people so poor that they don’t owe income taxes. My reaction is here.) Are we dismayed that after dad lost his job due to the recession, the family can still claim the child tax credit so long as mom keeps working?
Okay, here are some facts, courtesy of the Tax Policy Center. They may not allay Mr. Perry’s dismay, but they should assuage the concerns of anyone with a soul.
•Of the 46% of households who don’t pay income tax, nearly 2/3 pay payroll taxes.
•Of the 18% who pay neither income nor payroll taxes, more than half are elderly.
•More than 1/3 have incomes below $20,000. (Note: Ronald Reagan made the decision in 1986 to exempt people with incomes below the poverty line from federal income tax. Twenty-five years later, that still seems like a good call.)
•Only 1% of nontaxpaying households are nonelderly with incomes over $20,000. I’m dismayed about them too governor. Maybe we should close some of the loopholes that allowed almost 1,500 millionaires to escape income tax in 2009.
Governor Perry’s dismay raises some questions about the potential tax policy implications. Does he want to raise taxes on lower-income elderly people—by far the largest category of lucky duckies? Does he want to raise income taxes on the bottom 50% of taxpayers? If so, wouldn’t that trickle up to raises taxes on most if not all of the middle class? How does that square with his pledge to never ever raise taxes? To keep his “tax reform” from being a net tax increase, he’d have to give tax cuts to high income folks.
Oh, right, we have to raise taxes on the working poor and the middle class to finance even more tax breaks for millionaires.
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More horseshit. Payroll taxes fund medicare and ss which everyone draws from later on!
The income tax funds ongoing costs and expenses. Should 46 percent pay nothing towards that?
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I caught this Perry comment on the very day he said it and I KNEW people like Blacken would turn it around on him. What these intelligent organisms dont seem to understand is that having every body pay SOMETHING (it doesnt have to be a lot, maybe 1% of your income) gives everybody skin in the game and gives them a stake in how thier government spends money. This helps the government spend money more wisely, which leads to a more efficienct allocation of resources, which leads to greater prosperity for all.
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Nobody on here has every advocated that the poor and middle class have taxes raised on them, no one. You are constructing one hell of a straw man here.
The only thing I've ever said and most on here is that those 50% that have no income tax liability actually chip in and pay SOMETHING.
That's it and that's all.
Please do us all a favor and use your brain or at least start posting under SAMSON123 again...or not, I don't give a shit.
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What's Perry referring to with this letter?
(http://unelected.org/wp-content/perry_letter.jpg)
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lol
This guy is is something else.
Nice switcharoo, he'd make Romney proud.
"As a matter of fact, I signed a letter with the Governor of West Virginia, whos a Democrat, when September/October a year ago, when they were talking about, Oh my goodness, the economy is tanking. Weve got to do something. We signed a letter that basically said you know dont get all frozen up in fear, act. I didnt know we needed to write it out for them and say stop spending all of the money and cut the taxes. Thats the blueprint that worked. And still we got people that voted for this bailout ... more that was in hindsight now just an absolute giveaway, didnt help the economy at all."